It wouldn't be fair to say that everyone had arrived, but a vast majority of Calum's companions had arrived from Diov, Lu Rei, Teresa and even Russel. The ones that Han knew weren't around, but he sat down and managed a sheepish grin, "Hey, good morning." He was about to ask if he could share a table with them, but it was him who got here first.
"Oh, it's youHan." Russel said with a smile, "You're early."
"Yeah, can't let myself run around being chased by the Tri-Elental Orbs, you know?"
Diov gave him a small nod as he removed his gauntlets and plopped them on the table, the sheer weight of it enough to make it unsteady for a mont. Lu Rei gave a deeper but shyer bow, whereas Teresa just gave him a wave. Calum amidst this was already eating even while the others hadn't eaten yet.
Whether he could respect that actually, he could respect that.
"Oh, thatI still need to at least get an orb up before that happens." Russel slapped a hand over his face. "Thanks for the reminder. Nearly forgot that."
"How could you forget about an assignnt?" Teresa sniggered at him and grabbed the tray containing their food from a cart that finally stopped in front of them. She and Lu Rei distributed them at the table.
"Well, it's not like I have people who can remind ." Russel grumbled as he took out the lid covering his al and drink. He glanced down at a bowl of oats and various fruit slices on the side. He stabbed a fork and ate. "You guys are all in Physical Combat."
"It's not too late to change curriculum?" Lu Rei offered.
"Are you trying to copy Professor Uriel?" Han raised a brow. The mory of the Professor telling that to him to change from Rogue to sothing else present in his mind. It elicited so chuckles and sniggers from the table, and he was only glad that he said it.
"Ugh, Professor Uriel was unfair in the matches yesterdayheck, why did he have to pit against ra?" Russel said with a grimace. "She kicked my butt and I still feel sore."
"A sore loser?"
"Oi, just because you did well doesn't an you can mock , Teresa."
"But I was just telling the truth."
"Maybe you two could cut it out?" Lu Rei said with a sheepish smile, cutting into what seed to be a usual spat between their two friends. "I have to agree that ra is a tough opponent though, she has benefits since she's half-beastkin."
It was enough to make Han look up from his own plate and frown, "What?" Did he hear things correctly? He thought they mistreated people of other Races, and yet Lu Rei didn't exactly sound negative. Only informative.
"Well, I don't see her having any tails or cat ears, so I can't say that's true." Russel shrugged.
"Heard the sa rumor, her mom's the Innkeeper at the Sleepy Cat's Inn, and her father was the bartender?" Teresa added in and then sipped her drink. "More human than cat beastkin though, she took after more her father than anything. Maybe their father made a special drink?"
Russel made a face. "That makes little sense."
"Hey, if you have a Skill for it."
"I can understand soone who's an Alchemist who'd have a Skill related to affecting children during pregnancy, but a bartender? That's so stretch." He said.
Sohow in this group it was Teresa and Russel that were the conversationalists, Lu Rei the peacemaker and Diov and Calum the serious types? Or maybe Diov was the sulky one? Either way, Han cleared his throat and addressed them. "I can't help but notice that you don't have any problem with this girl being part beastkin, but Ellynn"
Diov sighed and placed his fork down, "You seem to act as if you haven't learned history."
"Well, he's from a village and just enrolledmaybe we can't expect too much?"
Han rubbed his face and then sighed, "History isn't my best subject not that I actually studied before getting here. I'm Han, the Level 1 Student."
"Wait, are you serious?" Teresa glanced at him with a raised brow.
"No, I'm just kiddingbut I'm not really high leveled." Han scratched his cheek and didn't ntion that his actual Student Level was not that far off from 1 and he only had one Skill under it.
"Well, you clearly didn't pay attention to Miss Jeanne's lessons just yesterday then." Russel laughed. "I an, we just finished reviewing the Beastkin Uprising incident from seven years ago, and if you had to compare them to a"
Han frowned but then sighed, "If you can continue?" So of the Races weren't looked upon as harshly as Elves. And though it seed like the typical portrayal of narcissism and arrogance was actually present in the Wood Elf he had encountered, and maybe even the Light and Shadow Elfit didn't apply to Ellynn.
"Elves attacked our lands in the pastwe keep our grudges." Diov spelled it out for him plainly and succinctly. The man stabbed his fork through his steak and took a big bite, his manners not exactly noble-esque as Han thought it would be. "As for the Beastkin, most of their affinity for magic is on the low side"
"Except for Lamias and Lizardkin." Lu Rei added with a look.
Russel elbowed him and whispered, "She's from under the kingdom claid by the Matriarch of the Lizard Folks. In the border between Yegarian and then the Beastkin territory."
"The Uprising was said to have been because of the unequal treatnt between the Beastkin trying to find work here in our lands, as we're more advanced in terms of technology but a certain number of detestable Nobles have also been found to be keeping so Beastkins as pets." Diovwho now seed more known for being Diov Brandesaid it with a disgusted look on his face.
"That's just repulsive," Han muttered. Now the lesson about how so uncivilized Races were when compared to Humans ca to his mind along with the mory of him practically crunching a Goblin's nose. It was enough to make grimace, and yet that Goblin tribe attacked him and even the Wood Elf had wanted to share the territory he had reclaid from them.
It was another thought for the day.
He didn't know what to feel about it and continued to eat, glancing now and thenand then blinked. "But you guys, you can't exactly say that all of us are the sa, right? Russel is different from Calum."
Calum raised a brow at him.
"That's a little obvious, you can't mistake Russel's ugly mug with Calum's." Teresa chuckled and earned another glare from said man. She sohow gave him a hand action that almost resembled flipping a finger at Russel, while Lu Rei practically gave up and ate her al.
Diov raised a brow at him, "And this comparison I suppose is for you to convince us that Miss Ellynn is different, I suppose? That the Elves of the past differs from her, especially that she is a Half Elf and not a full one."
Han scratched the back of his head, "Uh yeah, you figured it out."
"You're like her only friend." Teresa chid in. Despite being in what seed to be a dieval fantasy kind of world, she sounded almost like a Valley Girl. "It's kind of obvious that this was where we were heading towards."
"But you know, we spent ti with her during the Spin the Bottle thing and she was as mute as a sli." Russel said. "I an ra's friendly at least, and you know maybe if she put in a little more effort? I an, look at you. You're not so bad yourself."
Not so bad himself? Han knew that he should have focused on what they said about Ellynn, but had focused on that last bit instead. What was this guy trying to say? Did they look down on him for being from so backwater village again? Not only were they speciesist but also considered upbringing?
Diov sighed and once again stepped in, sohow also taking a more diator role. "He doesn't an anything bad by that. But your situation is special after all." He shrugged. "It was hard to get an understanding of what kind of person you'd be and how you got here in the first place. We saw that so form of tournant was held between you and your friend with both Ellynn and Sir Harrington, but why did the Academy consider it?"
Compared to Sir Leon's often kind if not supportive tone, this man wasn't exactly as charming, but their words did seem honest. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to tell them? Han scratched the back of his head, "Soone from our village knew the Headmaster and asked him to take us in?"
"A patron then and soone who can pull their weight." Teresa raised a brow, and the woman leaned closer to him. "Makes more sense than paying your way in, but ah what village did you co from again?"
"Wait, are you from the hotown of the Headmaster?"
"It just couldn't be anyone from his ho or else every young man or woman would be squeezed in here with us." Teresa pointed out.
Han appreciated the attention and how they were friendly enough, but compared to Sir Leon and the others he first t, at least two of the people here were interested in talking about almost anything. He was almost half-sure that he'd rather deal with Penny getting angry at him than this.
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